Ojai Valley News photo by Perry Van Houten

“To help homeowners improve their property values and beautify Ventura County and the Ojai Valley” is the mission statement at Greg Rents, said owner Greg Webster (left). With this goal in mind, he’s debuting electric-powered heavy equipment at his Oak View rental yard. Pictured with Webster, from left, are employees Alex Webster, Karli Gill, Mike Walsh and Bart Willoughby.

Ojai Valley News photo by Perry Van Houten

“To help homeowners improve their property values and beautify Ventura County and the Ojai Valley” is the mission statement at Greg Rents, said owner Greg Webster (left). With this goal in mind, he’s debuting electric-powered heavy equipment at his Oak View rental yard. Pictured with Webster, from left, are employees Alex Webster, Karli Gill, Mike Walsh and Bart Willoughby.

Imagine doing an entire construction project without burning a gallon of diesel fuel.

Greg Webster, owner of Greg Rents, 420 N. Ventura Ave. in Oak View, is leading the way toward all-electric construction equipment.

On Tuesday, Sept. 27, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Greg Rents will host a customer appreciation-demo day, with the ECR25 and L25 on display and available for demonstrations.

On Sept. 15, two pieces of heavy equipment manufactured by Volvo arrived at Webster’s rental yard — the L25 electric compact wheel loader and the ECR25 electric compact excavator.

They’ll be game changers, according to Webster, who said he believes his yard is the first in Ventura County to rent electric heavy equipment. “These machines will dig and load large dump trucks,” he said, and they’ll do it without the exhaust fumes, noise and cost of diesel machinery.

“This is 2022 and I’m looking forward to the future and what it has to offer as far as modern technology and newer, cleaner ways to help the bottom line and the environment,” Webster told the Ojai Valley News.

To that end, Webster worked with Ed Galindo, sales representative with Volvo Construction Equipment in Corona, to bring the equipment to Oak View for demonstrations. The two men sit on the board of the California Rental Association.

The plan, according to Webster, is to purchase the ECR25, which is good at getting into tight spaces, like between houses or in small back yards. “Do you want diesel smoke blowing in your window when your wife is trying to cook breakfast?” Webster asked. “Absolutely not.”

Useful for landscapers, homeowners and contractors, the tracked mini-excavator is perfect for digging utility lines, repairing pipes, digging swimming pools and planting trees. “It’s small enough to fit on a car trailer,” said Webster, a sixth-generation Ventura County businessman who has owned and operated Greg Rents since 2009.

The ECR25 lists for approximately $90,000, according to Webster, with diesel models selling for about half that price.

The front-end loader, the L25, sells for about $160,000 and comes with a bucket that can hold a yard of rock, gravel, sand or bark. “I’m really interested in getting one of those because we have 25 different types of bulk material,” Webster said, “and nobody really wants to breathe that diesel smoke.”

Both machines can be charged overnight using either a 220-volt or 110-volt plug. “I’m looking forward to plugging it into my 220 and monitoring the costs, and comparing them to the diesel fuel,” Webster said.

In terms of performance, how do the electric machines hold up against their diesel counterparts?

In January, Webster attended the Rental Rally Tradeshow in Las Vegas and took the equipment for a test drive.

“I was breaking ground in that hard, rocky Las Vegas dirt, and I was very impressed,” he said, though the electric gear comes with a bit of a learning curve. “It’s like anything. You get a new pair of shoes and you’re going to have to break them in and learn how they work.”

The ECR25 is now available to rent for $450 per day, while the L25 is only a demo at the moment.

A few years ago, the city of Ojai passed regulations banning the use of many gas-powered landscaping machines. Greg Rents jumped on the electric bandwagon with its ECHO outdoor power equipment dealership.

Webster plans to add a full charging station at the yard once the fleet of all-electric equipment is in place.

His long-term goal is replacing much of the diesel-powered machinery with electric heavy equipment. “We’re going that way, absolutely. As technology rolls out, we’re right on board trying to move with it,” he said.

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